dragon caves. There might be an important reason for that. Jackson had always followed Elijah’s orders pretty blindly in Ryleigh’s opinion. If Mia really had taken Elijah’s place, a thought Ryleigh really couldn’t fathom at the moment, her instructions might be based on some knowledge only she possessed.
And where was Mia? She hadn’t returned to the group as far as Ryleigh knew. Neither had Darius, so she had to assume he was still protecting Mia. She refused to accept any other possibility.
“Here. Let me take him.” Noah pried the boy from her neck and lifted him into his arms. He grabbed Ryleigh’s arm and helped her climb over the edge of a slick rock formation. The higher they climbed, the more snow and ice coated the land.
“Is my entire army with us?” Though the group had stayed together, it was hard to keep track of who had escaped with them.
“Yes.” Noah climbed over the rocks behind her. “Our job is to protect the queen.” He waggled his eyebrows and shot her a grin. “Where you go, we go.”
She laughed and shook her head. His boyish charm seemed out of place under the circumstances but was a welcome distraction nonetheless.
Snorts and grunts from behind them sobered her quickly. “They sound awfully close.”
“I don’t think they’re as close as it seems. Most of your army is ahead of us, seeing to the safety of the women and children, but a line of Cymmeran Guardsmen escaped and are bringing up the rear. The savages will have to fight their way through that line before they can get to any innocent civilians. I haven’t heard any indication of a battle.”
“No, me neither.” Ryleigh climbed over the trunk of a fallen tree and scrambled onto a narrow ledge. She stood and stretched, her back sore from carrying the child, the gash in her side throbbing, then sat with her feet dangling over the edge and pulled the boy into her lap.
Better for Noah to have his hands free if they fell under attack. At least he had a weapon. And two working hands.
“Do you know how many we were able to get out?” She smoothed the little boy’s hair out of his face.
Noah knelt and checked him, avoiding Ryleigh’s gaze.
Several Cymmeran civilians dotted the mountainside below her, but most of those who’d escaped had gone before her and were now a little higher up the mountain than she’d made it. Her injuries and carrying the child had slowed her. “Noah?”
He frowned. “What happened to your hand?”
“A savage got me with a flail.” The constant throbbing in her hand was nothing compared to the agony in her side, but sharing that would serve no purpose.
He ran his fingers over the worst of the bruising. Soft light surrounded her hand, easing the stiffness, reducing the swelling.
She flinched at his touch, not because it hurt, but because it stirred feelings and memories of Jackson.
“I’m not very good at healing. Ranger taught me a little when…uh…”
Jackson.
What would happen to him when he returned to the castle? If he returned. If Chayce showed up so soon after the Death Dealers had left, he must have been absolutely certain they wouldn’t return. How had Chayce even known they’d gone? The last thing she needed right now was the possibility of another traitor in their midst.
She snatched her hand from Noah’s. “I asked how many got out.”
He took the child from her, climbed to his feet, slumped against a rock wall at their back, and finally met her gaze. “I don’t have anywhere near an exact count, but Tristan estimated less than a hundred.”
“A hun—how could that be?” It couldn’t be possible fewer than a hundred people had managed to escape. “What happened to the rest?”
“We don’t know. We saved as many as we could. Most of those we were able to evacuate had been in the castle.” He studied her, a touch of sadness in his big, brown eyes. He shook his head, and a lock of hair that had grown longer and shaggier than she’d ever seen it dropped across his face, hiding his expression in shadow. He’d always been too sensitive, even when they were still human. “The Guards were behind us. Savages were pouring in through portals from every direction. We stayed as long as we could, Ryleigh, but you have to understand, our allegiance is to you. We had to leave soon after you, make sure we could catch up to you, to protect those who were able to get out.”
She pushed his hair off his face. “It’s all right, Noah. I understand.”
He watched the others climbing ahead of them, his features lined with regret.
“Everyone has their role.” As Mia had not so gently reminded her. “You couldn’t send women and children into the mountains alone with no protection. Most didn’t even have time to grab weapons.”
His expression softened. “Come on. We have to go.”
She turned away from the pain in his eyes and resumed her climb. Still no sign of Mia and Darius. She probably shouldn’t have let Mia go. Or she should have gone with her. Of course, then the Queen’s Army would have been forced to stay, and the civilians they’d managed to save would have been sitting ducks as they tried to flee alone. At least she’d been able to offer them a direction. Whether or not it would turn out to be safe, she had no clue.
She worked to blank her mind and concentrate on the climb. The muscles in her back screamed as she pulled herself up and over another rocky ledge. A sharp rock gouged her injured side, and she bit back a cry.
This would have been so much easier if she could have taken Nahara or Kalayah and flown out. Of course, she couldn’t fit a hundred people on the back of one hound, no matter how big, or one dragon.
She opened and closed her hand, the stiffness interfering with her grip.
Cymmera was a barren land, icy, cold, and though trees still stood, they never bloomed. Underbrush had dried up and blown away centuries ago, soon after Jackson’s mother, Queen Dara, had died. Although ice and snow covering everything was amazingly beautiful, it made scaling the mountain extremely difficult, and her arms and legs were protesting.
She stood and brushed snow and dirt from the front of her sweatshirt and jeans. She reached for her sword before she remembered it had been lost in the battle with Chayce. She wouldn't have thought the empty scabbard hanging at her side would make her feel so naked, so defenseless. She should have kept the flail with her when she’d fled the throne room, couldn’t even remember where she’d lost it. Perhaps the span of peace had made her complacent. She should have paid more attention to Jackson’s warnings about remaining alert.
The first clashes of metal on metal reached her.
“Go, Ryleigh.” Noah gripped the back of her sweatshirt and propelled her onto the platform at the base of the dragon caves, then followed with the boy. “You have to decide where to go. There’s not much time.”
An inhuman scream punctuated his assessment.
Her people entered the cave, then huddled by the entrance, pushing the children behind them, trying to shelter them. Fear emanated from the group. They stared at her, waiting for her orders. Waiting for her to do something to save
